This invention relates to the field of coin containers, and in particular to coin containers that can be utilized as dispensers thereby providing easy access to coins when driving on highways and bridges where toll booths are encountered.
Prior art coin container designs have been aimed at holding coins in a position whereby a driver can reach and retrieve the amount of coins need for a toll booth. No coin container design has addressed the problem of the drivers view being distracted when retrieving the coins.
The problems with prior art coin containers is that they are designed to hold coins thereby requiring a driver to view the container to remove the required coins or the coin container will dispense coins in a driver's hand but does not provide the exact amount of coins required thereby causing the driver to distract his view to sort out of the required coins.
Examples of prior art devices includes those disclosed in the following United States Patents:
Pat. No. 3,945,491 discloses a holder for coins or other small objects with a pocket or lip section to hold coins and a flattened under section to act as a base which attaches to an area of a car where the coins would be accessible to the driver. One problem with this device is that a driver must view the device and coins to retrieve the required amount to pay a toll. Another problem with this device is that the device does not hold the exact amount of coins required for one toll booth when a series of toll booths are encountered thereby causing the driver to distract his view for a further period of time once his view is focused upon the coin holder.
Pat. No. 3,329,277 discloses a holder for coins and other small objects that mounts on a dashboard in an automobile by utilizing a magnet. A plurality of recesses for coins are positioned on the front and top side of a base that is attached to the dashboard by the magnet. The problems with this device is that a driver must distract his view from the road to retrieve the coins and must spend time retrieving the exact amount of coins required due to the holder failing to group coins in predetermined amounts.
Pat. No. 3,144,987 discloses a coin dispensing tray. This device is utilized with a coin dispensing machine that automatically feeds a predetermined amount of coins into the tray. The object of the tray is to provide easy retrieval of change to a purchaser. Although the tray could be adapted to a dashboard in an automobile, the same aforementioned problems would occur. The drivers view would be distracted to collect the coins and the required amount of coins would have to be determined by the driver thereby further distracting his view.
Pat. No. 2,354,001 discloses a coin holder for making change. Coins are placed in horizontal grooves or pockets in a base and held in place by a wall at each end of the pocket with the walls short enough to expose the upper section of the coins to allow a driver of a bus to grasp the required coins to make change for a customer.
Pat. No. 1,896,976 discloses a coin container of cylindrical design and divided into four individual compartments on which a cover is rotatably mounted with the cover having a discharge opening adapted to be moved into registration with any one of the compartments, while a closure member is rotatably arranged with respect to the remaining compartments to seal said compartment and allow only the one compartment to be emptied. Each compartment would hold coins of the same denomination.
Pat. No. 1,363,828 discloses a coin delivering device. The device has a coin receptacle that receives coins and acts as a funnel with an elliposoidal member that seals an orifice at the bottom of the receptacle with a portion of the ellipsoidal member protruding through the orifice. Coins are removed without regard to denomination by lifting up the ellipsoidal member and allowing coins to fall through the orifice at the bottom of the receptacle. The receptacle is resealed by allowing the ellipsoidal member to fall to the bottom of the receptacle.
Pat. No. 793,416 discloses a change delivery device that is lifted to align an orifice in a side wall of the device with a slot sloping downward in which coins have been placed to allow the coins to slide through the orifice in the side wall and into the hand of the user.
Pat. No. 243,925 discloses a box for holding game counters or chips comprised of a block of wood having a row of cells of equal diameter extending through the upper surface to near the bottom surface of the block with orifices through the bottom surface and axially aligned with the cells. The upper surface of the block has a groove to receive a cover to seal in all chips placed in the cells. When removing the chips in a cell, the cover is slid back a distance to expose the contents of one cell, a finger is then inserted through the orifice in the bottom surface of the cell to force the chips out.